Fresh from street-fighting with a gang of would-be carjackers on Sunday night,
Amir Khan returned to the day job on Tuesday — announcing his next fight in
the ring, his first under new trainer Virgil Hunter.

The Briton will take on unbeaten American Carlos Molina in Los Angeles on Dec 15.

Khan was keeping mum about the set-to with the six men who ambushed him and his 20-year-old brother Haroon, also a boxer, in an attempt to steal the former world champion’s Ranger Rover, valued at £125,000.

The brothers took on the group, with a witness reporting that Amir Khan had knocked one of them to the ground. The incident was registered with the police, who were called to the scene.

Asked yesterday how his hands were, Khan smiled and showed his undamaged fists to a packed news conference in London. “They are fine,” said Khan, although he refused to comment further on the event. His father, Shah Khan, was not impressed by the incident. “I’ve told them it takes a bigger man to walk away. Let them have the car,” he said.

Khan himself was more concerned with setbacks in the ring. “It’s been a bad 12 months,” he admitted. “I’ve lost two fights, “I need to go back to basics, and that’s why I’ve switched trainers. Virgil is an authoritarian, and I believe I needed that. I need to go out there and fight smart, start fighting with my head again and not my heart. I need to stick to a game plan.

“In my last few fights, I don’t know if I was learning anything from Freddie Roach, and I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way. It was me who rang Freddie to tell him, and he just wished me all the best. So did Manny Pacquiao.”

Khan also hinted that he was contemplating “a contest down the line with Ricky Hatton – if he wins a world title”.

Hatton makes his comeback in Manchester on Nov 24 after a three-and-a-half-year exile.